The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 2 March 1998
by Beryl Markham
There is a deep romance to exploration and travel in Africa during the opening decades of this century. This book is told by a woman who was raised in British East Africa (now Kenya). Beryl Markham is famous for her pioneering life as a horse trainer and pilot. She was an adventuress. In this book, she writes of her upbringing and later life in Africa. Her writing is poetic in its love for the countryside and the people she encounters. Markham was raised on a farm, knowing wild animals, hunting with native tribespeople, and meeting prominent figures in that area. The book is exciting and mesmerizing. As much can be learned from omission as by inclusion, though. Markham admiringly describes several people, but includes no mention at all of two husbands. At the end, I felt that her unusual upbringing had resulted in a reticent and closed sense of herself. There was something sad in that, as much as the book is otherwise beautiful.